So, What's Stopping You Now?
by ChasingGhosts
Summary: “Ryan, do you really want to go another year just watching her from afar? Sharpay’s not around to boss you around anymore, and she isn’t going out with Jason like you thought. So, what’s stopping you now?” Ryan&Gabriella friendship Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: **Yep, still not mine. But ask again after Christmas! I've put it down on my Christmas list for Santa. Maybe this year I'll get lucky!

**Author's Note**: I'm trying out something different. I've been wanting to write something other than my usual Troy&Gabriella, and I have a soft spot for Ryan&Gabriella, so here goes!

* * *

He stood at the back of the auditorium, leaned up against one of the walls, just carefully watching her, a smile playing across his face. He'd been watching her for years, but every time he saw her she never ceased to amaze him. There was just something about her. Perhaps it was the way she'd smile to herself, as her fingers carefully gilded across the ivory keys, when she hit that perfect note. Or the way that she unknowingly made him smile too, just because she was smiling. Or maybe it how cute she was when a lock of her hair tumbled out from under her hat and into her eyes. How she'd always try to blow it out of her face without disrupting her timing of her skilled fingers, and how in the end she'd get so frustrated with it that she'd stop playing with a huff and push her hair away making sure it was secure before she lost herself in the music once again.

He grinned to himself as he watched her moving away her hair at that very moment, before she continued to play once again. She looked so at ease with the piano at her fingertips, so in her element, her zone. So completely-

"You should just finally tell her, you know," a voice said from behind him making him jump out of his revere.

He turned to find Gabriella standing behind him, a knowing grin splashed across her features. He blushed, knowing she knew his secret.

He cleared his throat quietly, trying not to alert the girl on the stage of their presence. "Gabi, what are you still doing here?" he spoke, attempting to distract her attention.

She grinned knowingly. "Just waiting for Troy," she took a seat on the floor beside his feet, and he followed her lead. "They had basketball practice today and he's staying back a little longer so he can make up for the practice session he's missing tomorrow for rehearsal." He nodded understandingly.

"What are _you_ still doing here?" she asked, smirking at him.

Not expecting that she wouldn't fall for his diversion he stuttered. "I – uh – well…"

She laughed at him quietly. "You know Evans, for an actor you're not too quick on your feet," she teased good naturedly.

He couldn't help but laugh along with her. The pair had become close friends since the events of the summer gone by. She was the first person to really see him for something other than Sharpay's lapdog, and the first person to really push him to do something for himself, to help him be something more than what everyone saw him as, and for that he was entirely grateful.

"Yeah, well, I'll add that to the list of things I should work on before Darbus figures it out and publicly announces it to everyone on what else I need to improve on," he replied with a grin on his face, showing her that he wasn't offended by her words at all. The two were close enough now to joke around with each other anyway.

"Hey, if she figures it out, don't worry about it. I'm sure I'll be standing right along side of you listening to an equally as long list of improvements I need to make. I should probably start learning how to _project_ my voice into the audience. Though I'm not quite sure how she expects me to do that when your sister insists on standing right in front of me any chance she gets," she grinned, rolling her eyes slightly.

He let out a short laugh. "Well that's Sharpay for you. Even playing a supporting role she has to be the center of attention. That'll never change."

A quiet moment passed between the two as they sat silently on the worn out carpeting of the East High auditorium, just listening to melody being played by the unknowing composer.

"So… back to my original point. You should just tell Kelsi already," she said pointedly, not bothering to beat around the bush.

He dropped his head and played with his hat. "I can't," he mumbled.

"You can't, or you won't?"

"Can't… Won't… What's the difference? It's not like she likes me that way anyway."

"Come on Ryan! This is Kelsi we're talking about, it's not as if she's going to laugh in your face and mercilessly reject you!" she exclaimed.

"But she'd still reject me in the end," he spoke, not daring to look Gabriella in the eyes.

She placed her hand on his comfortingly. "Ryan, you don't know that!"

He was quiet for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. "You know, I almost asked her out once a year or two before you came to East High. We weren't really close or anything, but we'd talk during music or drama, and she seemed to like me enough, I mean, when Sharpay wasn't around and all. So I figured why not? I had it all figured out. I was going to ask her to help me practice a song for some play, and as we were rehearsing, I was going to change some of the words of the song and I was going to act her out by singing to her," he stopped for a moment trying to remember some of the words he came up with, before he started chuckling to himself. "God, I remember the song had turned out completely cheesy and overdone."

"Aw, no I think it sounds sweet. I'm sure Kels would have loved it," Gabriella added softly.

He let out a sigh. "Well Sharpay didn't think she would have. The night before I was going to ask her I was completely nervous, and I asked Sharpay to look at it, make sure it was okay. You know, give me that little boost of confidence too, maybe. Sharpay hated it; she said that if I sung that to Kelsi she was sure Kelsi would laugh in my face. I didn't want to believe her, saying Kelsi wouldn't do that, but Sharpay said something having a woman's perspective, and to trust her that Kelsi would hate it."

"It seemed to make sense to me at the time, and it wasn't like I had any other girl friends to ask, so I listened," he said with a shrug. "After that I started talking to Kelsi less because Sharpay had me convinced that people like _us_ shouldn't associate with people that weren't as dedicated to acting like we were. So I followed her lead."

He turned to Gabriella for the first time. "I know it's sounds stupid that I would listen to Sharpay, but she's my sister, you know? I thought she was just looking out for me." He gave her a sad look, as if he were somewhat ashamed of himself, of how much faith he had put in his sisters words.

"Hey Ryan? There's nothing wrong with wanting to believe that your sister only meant the best for you. It's what sisters are meant to do, right?" she responded carefully.

"Yeah, I suppose. But look how well it all turned out, huh? I lost a friend, spent years pitifully pining over a girl who probably thinks I hate her because of Sharpay, and Sharpay turned me into her little lapdog."

Gabriella smiled encouragingly. "But that's all in the past now! You're your own person, Sharpay can't order you around like she used to anymore. So I say screw what Sharpay said, she's not around to stop you now, you obviously still really like Kelsi, so why don't you ask her out now!"

Ryan's eyes widened in shock, "I can't do that! We've barely even talked over the last couple of years! I can't just ask her out like that, out of the blue!"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "What are you talking about Ryan, you guys talk heaps! I've seen you! You talk about her compositions after rehearsal, and during rehearsal you two are always making jokes about Sharpay and Darbus. And heck, I've even seen you try to do the locker lean thing to her once or twice!"

A blush crept up onto his cheeks. "I didn't think anyone actually saw that!"

Gabriella giggled. "Taylor and I saw you do it once when we were walking past your lockers, and hey, you were talking to Kelsi that time too! See, you talk heaps!"

He groaned and hid his face in his hat, still embarrassed that she actually saw his failed attempts at flirting. "I still can't believe you and Taylor saw that!"

She rose her eyebrow up at him, "Ryan, I've seen you do some pretty embarrassing stuff on stage, but of all things you're embarrassed about most, its _leaning_ on a _locker_?"

He sighed dramatically, "That's because the stuff I do on stage is _acting_, I wasn't pretending that time with Kelsi!"

She shrugged. "So all you have to do is be as confident as you are on stage, next time you're with Kelsi! It's as simple as that!"

"Easier said than done," he grumbled.

"Come Ryan! You're an actor! You can do this!" Gabriella said enthusiastically.

He watched Gabriella smile at him, his confidence slowly rising from within him as she continued to speak. He let out a deep breath. "I'm not saying I will… but say that you _did_ manage to convince me to ask her out, how would I even go about doing that? And, what about Jason?!"

She looked at him in confusion. "What about Jason?"

"Well Kelsi is going out with him! I can't just ask her out!"

"No, she's not," she said simply.

"Yes she is, I've seen them together," he answered back obviously.

"No, Kels isn't going out with anyone."

Now it was his turn to be confused. "Huh? But they're always together!"

She couldn't help but laugh. "You know Ryan, if you asked more questions about her, rather than looking at her, you might find out a thing or two," she teased.

"So they're not going out?" he asked, trying to make sure he had this right. It didn't make sense to him. He'd seen them last year after the callbacks, he was sure he heard Jason ask her to go with him to the after party. He'd seen them together weeks later, holding hands and laughing. He'd watched them all through summer joking with each other, with their arms linked. Clearly they were still going out, right? He'd never seen them fight, or anything like that, so of course they'd still be going out if they were still so close… right?

"Nope," she said simply. "They broke up months ago."

Ryan opened his mouth slightly about to say something, only to shut it again. "Am I missing something here? How can they look so happy and so… couple-y, if they're not together anymore?"

"They did go out for a while, but they both decided that they were probably better off friends," she said with as shrug as she glanced down at her watch quickly.

"That still doesn't explain why they act like a couple."

"I guess they're so used to acting like a couple, that even though they're just friends, holding hands occasionally doesn't feel all that awkward to them. We all used to go on dates together, so it's probably just out of habit."

Ryan was thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know… it still sounds to me like they're a couple without officially being a couple. Kind of like how you and Troy were before he asked you out."

Gabriella smiled fondly at the mention of his name. "Ryan, trust me on this one, they're definitely just friends," she patted him on the leg reassuringly. "He's her best friend. Jason's helped her a lot; he's made her more confident about herself. Have you noticed she's not as afraid to stand up to Sharpay anymore? Jason helped her do that. He helped her come out of her shell more, she's definitely more talkative now than I remember her being," she laughed.

"I don't know Gabi," he said slowly, as if his resistance was crumbling.

"What have you got to lose?! You can do this Ryan," she encouraged, placing a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"But what if –"

He was cut off by the sound of the door slamming, and a very sweaty Troy coming through them, noisily. "Hey Kels!" he shouted as the girl turned around to see who had just entered. She waved back. "You haven't happened to see Gabi here have you? I'm running a little late and I said I'd meet her here," he questioned.

"No, haven't seen her here…" she started, before she heard the sound of rustling over in the back corner. Checking to see who it was, she blushed, not realizing that people had been listening to her play the entire time. Glancing down at her watch, she noticed just how long she had been playing for and began to pack up.

Gabriella laughed and stood up off the floor, helping up Ryan once she was up. "Hey Kels! Don't worry, you sounded great!" she complimented the other girl, before turning towards Troy. "It's about time Wildcat," she teased before going over to him and placing a kiss on his cheek quickly, before pulling back at his stench. "Ew, okay, shower first, greeting later."

Troy laughed, "Oh you know you love it."

She scrunched her nose up playfully, and edged away from him. He simply laughed some more, bringing her even closer.

She turned back to Ryan. "So, Evans, what's it gonna be then?"

Troy looked between the two in confusion. "What's what gonna be?" There was a time where he might have gotten a little jealous at the two talking about something he had no idea about, but he was over that now. He trusted Gabriella, and Ryan hadn't given him any reason not to trust him around his girlfriend. They were simply friends, Gabriella had insisted to him once, and he had learnt to listen to that.

"Well, Ryan, here is finally going to ask hmm mm out," she said as she wordlessly indicated with her head over to Kelsi, who was still packing up.

Troy nodded knowingly. "Ah, well good luck man!"

Ryan's eyes widened. "You mean, you knew too?!" he half whispered in outrage. Troy nodded. "Oh that's great! Does everyone know?!"

The other boy shrugged. "Jason might, he's mentioned you and Kels once or twice. But he doesn't seem bothered by it at all. So you don't have to worry about him."

"Jason knows? That it, I'm doomed," Ryan groaned melodramatically.

Troy couldn't help but laugh. "Come man, it won't be that bad! Just go up there and ask her!"

"See! Even Troy thinks you can do it," Gabriella piped up.

"I don't know guys…"

"Dude, you publicly humiliated your sister in front of the Lava Spring country club, but you can't even ask Kelsi out? Come on Ryan, Kelsi is no where near as scary as your sister can be! Where's that backbone you grew over summer?" Troy said, joining in on Gabriella's mission.

"Ryan, just think about it. Do you really want to go another year just watching her from afar?" she paused for dramatic effect, letting him think about that for a moment. "Sharpay's not around to boss you around anymore, and Kelsi isn't going out with Jason like you thought… So what's stopping you now?" she said carefully.

"Anyway, we'll see you tomorrow Ryan. Good luck if you go through with it!" Troy said as he lead a waving Gabriella out of the auditorium.

'_So what's stopping you now?_' He thought about it for a few moments as he watched the pair walk away, hand in hand, Gabriella giggling over something Troy had whispered in her ear. Ryan sighed to himself, he could have that with Kelsi, and he had to admit, Gabriella had a point; he definitely didn't want to go another year just watching her, hoping that one day she'd finally notice that he liked her. As much as he liked to think that maybe the latter might happen, he wasn't going to bet his entire hat collection on it.

He turned back towards the stage, where Kelsi was gathering the last of her things together. _Okay, Evans, it's now or never. Nothing's holding you back now. There's no one around… No one to make a fool of yourself in front of… Just you and Kelsi. You can do this… Just pretend like you're on stage and you won't turn into a mumbling idiot… You can do this…_

He took in a deep breath, "Hey Kelsi! Wait up!" he said loudly, before rushing up to the stage to meet her.

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**Author's Note**: Well that was something new. LOL.

I'm actually more of a Jason&Kelsi shipper myself, but Ryan pining over Kelsi seemed more believable and realistic this time. I wanted to write a Ryan&Gabriella story for a change, because those two were really quite adorable in _High School Musical 2,_ but being the Troy&Gabriella shipper I am, I couldn't exactly see myself writing a story about Troy turning into a jerk, and Gabriella running into the arms of Ryan… so a friendship fic worked just fine for me this time.

So my first time writing something that didn't center around Troy&Gabriella, or just Gabriella, so tell me, how did I do? Thoughts, comments, any tips, constructive criticism is always welcome!

Just hit that little purple box and let me know! ;)


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